Judge, 1916-04-01 · page 8 of 28
Judge — April 1, 1916 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes Jewish immigrant life in early 20th-century America through the character Markowitz, a "skirt manufacturer" (garment industry worker). The humor centers on his nagging wife Minnie, who pressures him into leisure activities—skating, swimming—that he finds exhausting after long workdays negotiating with difficult buyers. The satire targets the tension between Old World values (work, duty) and American consumer culture's demands for leisure and self-improvement. Markowitz's Yiddish-inflected English ("shliemazel," "skoit") marks him as a recent immigrant. The joke escalates when an insurance agent exploits his boasting about swimming prowess to sell him a policy—suggesting Jews as both gullible and entrepreneurial. The accompanying cartoons mock marital discord and modern dating (the "movie queen" who wants constant excitement). The medical joke about loneliness amid microbes provides social commentary on urban disconnection. Overall, the page reflects Judge's satirical treatment of immigrant experiences and changing American social mores during the Jazz Age.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
necks in the winter. She likes it? All right! But she wants me to go sporting with her, too. When my best friends Louis and Harry Grossman come around to play a little ‘auction,’ she makes a face like she got two cancellations in one mail, and makes them so welcome like the sunshine in an unbreller store.”” “What does she want from you?” asked Henry “All the winter she bothered me to go skating with her, and make figures like an expoit book- keeper and designer,” replied Markowitz. “Be lieve me, Henry, can keep a balance on the ice like a shliemazel in a bank. After I talk with them cut-throat, out-of-town buyers, I feel like skating for ex ¢, likea finisher wants sewing for pleasure. Yet, Minnie wants me to go along with her. But [ think I fixed it and she wouldn’t bother me now. Just for fun, Henry, what would you do to stop Minnie?” “T think I'd tell her, that this Summer you'll be an up-to-date, regular feller and become a fancy swimmer,” said Henry after a moment's deliberation. . “Honest, Henry,” remarked Markowitz, “I give you credit. You are a smart feller. That is NO WONDER just what I told her. She wants me to take lessons Fanny—They've moved six times in two years. in a gymnasium, where they have a big bathtub, Andrew—She was a “movie” queen when he married her like for an elephant. Minnie is already going around telling everybody, what a fine swimmer I am. That Lean keeper in the skoit business and not a wind reader in the weather swim all around the Hudson River with one hand, and my mouth — department.” and on account of that, who do you think called me up this “It was Jac evin, the insurance agent,” said Markowitz. morning?” “He told me, he hoid that I was going to be a fancy swimmer and “How should I know?” questioned Henry. “I'm only a book that now, I must sign an application for five thousand, sure. I tell you, Henry, if the policemen was on the job like them insurance agents, I would keep my moncy on the fire-escape. “Look! Look!" — continued Markowitz excitedly, as he pointed to a smartly dressed damsel who was approaching, “Look at that skoit! I think I am going right back to my place and take down the sign ‘MAX MARKOWITZ, SKOIT MAN UFACTURER’ and put on a new one with the woids, ‘MAX MARKOWITZ, TURER OF E HANDKERC FORMAL- LY SKOIT: Henry turned around, looked at the passing figure and, shrugging his shoulders, steered his boss and brother-in-law towards their destination, a Moving Picture Theatre on Broa Critamves 7 Plenty of Company “A cubic inch of air can contain a million microbes,” announced the doctor. “And yet some people com- plain of feeling lonely,” re- marked the patient who was suffering from brain fag. comicbooks.com